In the highly politicized Imperial Japanese Army of the 1920s and
1930s, the Kwangtung Army was a stronghold of the radical
Kodoha, and many of
its senior leaders overtly advocated political change in Japan
through the violent overthrow of the civilian government to bring
about a Shōwa Restoration,
with a reorganization of society and the economy along totalitarianstate socialist lines.
They also advocated a more aggressive, expansionistic foreign
policy with regards to the Asian mainland. Members, or former
members, of the Kwantung Army were active in numerous coup d'état attempts against the civilian
government, cumulating with the February 26 Incident of 1936.

Presented with the fait accompli, Imperial General
Headquarters had little choice but to follow up on the actions of
the Kwantung Army with reinforcements in the subsequent Pacification of Manchukuo. The
success of the campaign meant that the insubordination of the
Kwantung Army was rewarded rather than punished.

With the foundation of Manchukuo in 1932,
the Kwantung Army played a controlling role in the political
administration of the new state as well as in its defense. The
commander in chief of the
Kwantung Army simultaneously held the post of Japanese ambassador
to Manchukuo. With the Kwantung Army administering all aspects of
the politics and economic development of the new state, this made
the Kwantung Army commander equivalent to a resident general, with the authority
to approve or countermand any command from the nominal emperor of
Manchukuo, Puyi.

The
Kwantung Army was heavily augmented over the next few years, up to
a strength of 700,000 troops by 1941, and its headquarters was
transferred to the new Manchukuo capital of Hsinking. The
Kwantung Army also oversaw the creation, training and equipping of
an auxiliary force, the Manchukuo Imperial Army. During this
time, Prince Tsuneyoshi Takeda worked
as liaison officer between the Imperial
house and the Kwantung Army.

However,
the much vaunted reputation of the Kwantung Army was severely
challenged in battle against the Soviet Union's Red Army at the Battle of Lake
Khasan in 1938 and subsequent Battle of
Nomonhan in 1939, during which time it sustained heavy
casualties.After the Nomonhan incident, the Kwantung
Army was purged of its more insubordinate elements, as well as
proponents of the Hokushin-ron doctrine who urged that
Japan concentrate its expansionist efforts on Siberia rather
southward towards China and Southeast
Asia.

However, as the war situation began to deteriorate for the Imperial
Japanese Army on all fronts, the huge, well-trained and
well-equipped Kwangtung Army could no longer be held in strategic reserve. Many of its front line
units were systematically stripped of their best units and
equipment, which were sent south against the forces of the United States in the Pacific Islands or
the Philippines. Other units were sent south into China for
Operation Ichi-Go.

At the time of the Manchurian Strategic
Offensive Operation, when the Soviet Red Army invaded
Manchukuo, Inner Mongolia, Korea and Japanese-held islands in
August 1945, the Kwantung Army's strength was still at around
600,000 men, with one armored
division, 25 infantry divisions, six independent brigades, and
up to 25 security battalions. However, the men remaining were
largely semi-trained conscripts or raw recruits, equipped primarily
as a counterinsurgency and border
security force and unable to withstand the massive Soviet armored
and mechanized infantry
invasion.

Surrender of the Kwantung Army

The final commander in chief of the Kwantung Army, General Otozo Yamada, ordered a surrender on August 16,
1945, one day after Emperor Hirohito announced the defeat of the Japanese empire in a radio
announcement. Some Japanese divisions refused to surrender, and
combat continued for the next few days. Marshal Hata received "Ultimatum to surrender"
from Soviet General Georgii
Shelakhov in Harbin on August
18, 1945. He was one of the senior generals who agreed with
the decision to surrender, and on
August 19, 1945, Hata had talks with Marshal Aleksandr Vasilevsky, but asked that he
be stripped of his title of Field Marshal in atonement for the
Army’s failures in the war.

Arrested by the American occupation
authorities, Ishii and the 20,000 Unit
731 members received immunity in 1948 from war-crime prosecution before the Tokyo tribunal in exchange for germ warfare
data based on human
experimentation. On May 6, 1947, General Douglas MacArthur wrote to Washington that
"additional data, possibly some statements from Ishii probably can
be obtained by informing Japanese involved that information will be
retained in intelligence channels and will not be employed as 'War
Crimes' evidence." The deal was concluded in 1948.